Tag Archive for 'porkbelly'

No Recipes vol. 2

Published
by
marc
on October 27, 2008
in No Recipes
. 13 Comments

For this week’s No Recipes roundup, I have for you 2 classic Japanese dishes along with 2 pseudo-Indian ones. If you’re wondering what the deal with all the dashi inclusive dishes is, I had an audition for The Next Food Network Star today and needed to bring my signature dish pre-plated and I also had to do an on-camera 5 minute demo. I decided to do the demo on making home made dashi, so I’ve been playing with different variations all week.

As the Angry Asian Man points out, there’s really a dearth of yellow folk on The Food Network, so hopefully season 5 marks an end to that;-)

If I have time this week, I’ll post my first video blog (a practice run of the demo I caught on tape).

This week’s No Recipes isn’t completely devoid of instructions because I’ve posted about this dish before. This is one of my all-time favorite dishes, so I make it relatively frequently (much to my cardiologists chagrin). The pork belly braises in dashi for several hours in a low temperature oven which renders out a lot of the fat and releases a ton of collagen that makes the meat just melt in your mouth. I used this for the “plated dish” part of my audition today.

Here’s another winter Japanese dish called Nabe (which literally means pot). It’s basically a Japanese hotpot (aka steamboat) dish that you cook at the table. It’s a broth made from dashi with light soy sauce and mirin that you cook lots of veggies, some tofu, pork and mushrooms in. You can really put just about any combo of meat, seafood (I really like crab) and veggies in this one and it’s about the easiest thing in the world to make. It makes for a hearty warming meal yet it’s relatively light and healthy. You could easily make this vegetarian by omitting the pork and using a dashi made with kombu and mushrooms.

I took the liberty of topping this one with an onsen tamago (or slow cooked egg). If you’ve never had one before it’s a transformational experience because it’s not like any egg you’ve ever had before. I’m planning on posting a recipe for it later this week, so hang tight.


I’m a total novice when it comes to cooking Indian food, but I had some cauliflower and butternut squash in the fridge, so I made this veggie “tikka masala”. I use the term loosely because while it did have tomato and cream in it, I went a bit light on the cream so the tomatoes came through a bit too much.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before, but I absolutely hate wasting stuff. I had some pizza dough left over from a few days back and it occurred to me that it might make good naan if cooked it on the stove in my cast iron skillet. This was the result.

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Buta Udon (Udon with braised pork)

Published
by
marc
on May 19, 2008
in Japanese, Pork and Soups & Stews
. 10 Comments

Amy from We Are Never Full (one of my favourite blogs) mentioned in her last post how she hates it when idiots ruin a dish then try to call it “authentic”. I’d have to say I’m totally on-board with her on that, but at the same time I do enjoy coming up with my own ways of making things.

For most of these creative endeavors I caveat the post with something along the lines of “inspired by”. This dish however has its roots firmly planted in my New York apartment, yet I could totally picture it being served in an Okinawan noodle bar. Okinawa is the southern-most island of Japan, just a stones-throw from Taiwan and their food takes cues from their neighbors, using a lot of pork and fish.

Rather than using a traditional dashi based soup stock for udon, I’ve combined some braising liquid from the pork belly kakuni I made the other night with dashi to create a tasty, though unconventional broth for the noodles. If you’re a ramen maniac or an udon fanatic (or better yet, both), this may be your perfect bowl of noodle soup as it falls somewhere in between the two while tasting entirely different from either

I used Sanuki Udon noodles which are much thinner than other types of udon, yet they have a pleasantly firm texture when cooked al dente. The soup has a deep almost indescribable savory flavor met right in the middle by a subtle sweetness and a mellow zing coming from the long-cooked ginger. It’s inexplicably light, yet rich at the same time. The slices of pork on top start melting like butter on contact with the hot soup. Putting a slice in your mouth gives it just the nudge it needs to sublimate into a pool of rich meaty goodness.

I know it’s not every day you have Japanese braised pork laying around, but to be honest, I actually made the pork last night with the intent to make this udon today (yes, it’s THAT good).

2 C dashi
1 C braising liquid from buta kakuni (fat skimmed)
1-2 Tbs soy sauce (depending on how salty the braising liquid is)
2 bundles udon noodles
8 slices of buta kakuni
scallions finely chopped

Put the dashi and braising liquid in a pot and simmer. Taste the soup adding up to 2 tablespoons of soy sauce if needed. If after adding 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, it’s still not salty enough, supplement with salt until you’re happy.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Following the package instructions, boil the udon until about 1 minute before they are done. For example, if the directions say to cook for 6 minutes, boil them for 5. This is because the noodles continue to cook once you add them to the soup.

Drain the udon and give it a quick rinse to get rid of any extra starch. Put the noodles in 2 bowls, top with 4 slices of pork belly each, scatter some scallions on top then laddle the hot soup over everything. Other great toppings include baby mizuna greens (pictured), enoki mushrooms (pictured), or a poached egg. Serve with a little white pepper to sprinkle on top.

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Buta Kakuni (Japanese braised porkbelly)

Published
by
marc
on May 18, 2008
in Asian, Japanese and Pork
. 13 Comments

Pork belly is one of those unctuous guilty pleasures that you know will kill you some day, but you can’t resist taking another bite. Unlike “pork butt”, porkbelly actually comes from the belly of the pig and has layers of glorious fat. Salted and smoked, this cut is called “bacon”… need I say more?

Cooked over low heat for a long period of time, much of the fat renders out (which you skim off) and the collagen in the tough bits breaks down into gelatin making the entire thing dissolve in your mouth on contact. While I love porkbelly how ever it’s prepared, it’s so rich that I like simple preparations the best.

In Japan, buta kakuni is served as an appetizer along with some beer or sake. Literally translated it means “stewed square cut pork”. While it’s traditionally cut into cubes, I actually like leaving it in longer strips then slicing it before serving.

The dried sardines and pork make a flavorful broth while the ginger and garlic evens out any overly fishy or porky tones. The braising liquid has a small amount of soy sauce for added umami and “that Japanese taste”, but it’s mostly seasoned with salt with just a touch of sugar to balance it all out.

This goes great with some stir fried greens (flavored with the braising liquid), but I also love having slices of this over udon noodles with some of the braising liquid in the dashi.
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